It was time for dinner.
Everyone were just getting ready to tuck into one of Shinobu's delicious dinners when suddenly, the old and ancient door leading into the living room exploded in a spectacular shower of wooden chips and sawdust. Everyone, with the exception of Keitaro, dropped her bowl, and Motoko, ever the alert one, instantly whipped her sword out of its sheath and assumed a battle stance, ready for the threat. Keitaro, strangely, did not panic, but merely calmly put down his bowl and looked down at the table.
As the dust settled, the four silhouettes were revealed. A closer inspection revealed a group of two people of each gender, each wearing identical but differently colored suits. White, Black, Blue, and Green. Each person wore sunglasses and appeared not only unarmed but at ease. However, Motoko could tell from their positions and forms that they were highly skilled and ready to spring into action at the drop of a pin. Still, she assumed, without any evidence to back it up, that she was probably way above them in skill. With a slightly haughty tone, Motoko questioned the group.
"What business do you have here? If there is no urgent matter, I would kindly request you all leave," Motoko lifts her sword with practiced ease into a battle stance "lest you face my wrath."
None of the figures responded, but one of them seemed to snort for a moment, before removing his sunglasses and scanned across the room until his eye homed in on Keitaro. The rest of them, noticing the target, followed suit and removed their own sunglasses to stare at Keitaro, completely dismissing Motoko. Angered, Motoko gave a battle cry and dashed towards the White. Raising her sword, Motoko prepared to strike down her opponent when Keitaro appeared without ay warning between her and the intruder. Placing his palm on the side of her blade in mid swing, he gave a light push and sent Motoko off balance, rolling off to the side. Meanwhile, his other arm was on the fist of the intruder, which coincidentally, would have smashed Motoko in the chest. Motoko did not even notice the heavy punch - she was too overcome by her rage.
For a moment, everybody froze.
The intruder suddenly sent his other fist towards Keitaro, which was promptly blocked, and all hell broke loose. With White jumping back, all the assailants moved into a battle stance surrounding Keitaro, with their fists raised in front of their bodies, and unreadable expression in their eyes. Keitaro blocked a punch with a kick, before jumping up and firing off a kick towards Green's head. Green blocked the kick with her arms and grabbed Keitaro's leg before spinning it in an attempt to unbalance him. Keitaro merely fired off another kick towards her chest and Green was sent flying back into a cupboard, destroying it, while Keitaro flipped in mid air and recovered. Blue sent a vicious chop towards Keitaro's torso, but Keitaro brought his arm forward to block the strike and spun, catching the opponent's side with a chop of his own. Black jumped and aimed a flying kick at Keitaro, who jumped and countered it with a spinning kick. Both males fell to the floor with a crash, and Black entangled his legs with Keitaro's to prevent him from backing up. Green raised her leg and was about to smash it down right on Keitaro's head when he moved his head to the left, escaped from the leg lock and rolled out of the way. The wood beneath exploded from the impact.
White's punch caught Keitaro on the head as he stood up, but Keitaro shrugged it off and was getting into a battle stance when Blue recovered and kicked Keitaro on the back. Caught unawares, Keitaro rolled forward to stabilize himself, only to be caught by a vicious punch towards the gut by Green while he was recovering. Keitaro tried to roll towards clear ground, but Black's leg swept underneath him as he moved and sent him crashing to the floor. Keitaro gave a groan as he smashed into the floor, but he managed to avoid a violent stomp from Blue by rolling to the left, where White's leg connected with his head. Keitaro pushed against the leg and with his right hand on the wooden floor flipped into the air and stood up assuming a battle position. Positioning his arms in front of his ribs, with his palms open and his right leg in front of his left, Keitaro's face was neutral, but anyone looking at him right now would somehow know that he was dangerous.
At this moment, Motoko yelled a battle cry and jumped right into the deadlock.
Keitaro's eyes bulged as he leapt in between Motoko and the intruders and took the multitude of kicks and punches intended for Motoko. Motoko, annoyed, slammed the hilt of the sword into Keitaro's side, not the least appreciative of his protective efforts. The intruders looked at her, and Black quickly ran up the stairs towards the personal quarters of each tenant. Motoko ran after him, but a spinning roundhouse kick from Green sent her back right into the television. The smashing of glass caused Keitaro to look up from the floor, and his fury at the attack on Motoko forced him to stand up.
Scanning the surroundings, Keitaro noticed that Black was gone and groaned. Running across the room towards the staircase, Green grabbed Motoko's sword and slashed at his side in an attempt to stop him. Keitaro could feel the skin and muscle tearing, but he now knew the purpose of this evening visit, and he knew that he must keep their hands off it at any cost – even if it meant forfeiting the lives of the tenants. However, the three fighters remaining weren't going to let him off any time soon, and he barely dodged the upward slash from Green when Blue's high kick slammed into his head. He fought to keep himself from falling, but White's flying kick into his ribs made it impossible. Keitaro crashed to the ground as he desperately searched for any weapon that he could get his hands on.
Looking towards the couch, he rolled over, avoiding the stomping attempts on his head by all three and closed his fingers around a sake bottle. Leaping to his feet, he and spun around, smashing the bottle into White's head and knocking him to the left right into the couch. Blue spun and kicked at Keitaro's arm, forcing him to release the bottle with a cry of pain. Clutching his bruised arm, Keitaro dashed towards the laundry room, passing the stunned girls in the kitchen. He had no time to pay them any heed though, and he quickly grabbed one of the laundry poles before turning to stab the stomach of Blue as she followed him into the room. The assailant reeled back from the impact but stayed upright and got a good grip on the pole, before pulling back hard, nearly causing Keitaro to lose his grip on the weapon. Still, Keitaro managed to hold on to the weapon, which he thought was quite useful… at least until Green came in and slashed it in half. From her movements, you could easily tell that she was much more skilled than Motoko.
Keitaro rolled behind her while grabbing the remains of the pole, before bolting towards the living room while securing his grip on each segment of the pole. Approaching a rapidly recovering White, Keitaro jumped and smashed the ends of both poles into his chest from the top, finally knocking the powerful martial artist unconscious. Luck wasn't on his side however, and Blue's kick caught him on the back, causing his face to meet with the floor again. Green jumped with the sword pointed down, ready to end his resistance once and for all, but with an enormous effort Keitaro rolled over and covered his face with the poles attached. The sword's end nearly broke through the wooden poles, but fortunately for Keitaro, they held, and Keitaro forced both poles upwards, causing Green to become momentarily unstable. The moment's distraction was enough, and Keitaro swung the poles into the legs of Blue and Green, forcing both to the floor. Keitaro stood up and looked at them both for a moment, before his eyes froze, and he smashed the poles into their ribs with excruciating force, rendering them unconscious.
Keitaro turned and threw both poles onto the floor, before picking up Motoko's sword and running up the staircase towards his room.
xxx
Keitaro peeked around his door into his room. After all, it didn't hurt to be cautious. What good could he do if he ran right in and got impaled on some sharp weapon? Even he couldn't fight from the spirit realm. As he peeked in, Keitaro saw Black standing on the edge of the window, ready to leap. Obviously, he had retrieved it, and now he was going to make his escape alone. Keitaro was sure the intruder knew very well that since his comrades hadn't come up after him after this much time… they had most probably already been incapacitated, or worse, killed.
Without warning, Keitaro dashed into the room and swung his sword at Black. Black dropped to the floor, rolled to Keitaro's left, and using the same leg-locking trick, caused Keitaro to fall to the floor. Keitaro growled and stuck his sword into the floor to prevent him from hitting the floor, and using his height advantage twisted himself out of Black's leg grip and spun in mid air, pulling out his sword and landing upright. He moved to stab the sword into Black and end him, but Black gave him a kick to the legs, and he fell to the floor. Black quickly stood up while Keitaro was disorientated and jumped out of the window.
Keitaro recovered in a moment, and jumped out of the window after him. Unfortunately, just as he was about to land, Black bent down and gave a spinning roundhouse kick, kicking out and connecting with Keitaro's legs just before he landed, flinging Keitaro to the slide and causing him to fall flat on his side in a most painful manner. Keitaro bit back the pain and flipped right back up to deliver a powerful punch towards Black, which was blocked, and a punch was returned to him. Keitaro blocked that as well, before running up the wall of the inn and flipping to the back of the intruder. Swinging his sword, Keitaro caught the arm of Black, who screamed in agony and clutched his now bleeding stump. However, he was obviously a man trained to endure pain, as he quickly recovered and ran in the direction of the kitchen. Keitaro followed swiftly, but Black was swifter, and he jumped right into the laundry room next to the Kitchen.
Keitaro jumped in, and was caught on the side by a laundry pole. Keitaro smashed into a wall and demolished it, flying right through the wall. Through the open hole, Keitaro could se Black holding the pole waiting for his return. Keitaro flung he sword in his hand right at the man, but it was struck right out of the air. Keitaro took the opportunity to run right into the laundry room and got himself his own pole, slipping into a battle stance. The two fighters encircled the room, waiting for the other to strike; it was never good to reveal your tricks early. Keitaro gave a tiny poke at Black, but it was deflected. Keitaro grabbed the pole in the middle with both hands and spun it around rapidly, before striking Black on both sides swiftly with the momentum. Black was caught off guard, but he managed to recover and blocked the third and fourth strikes. Countering Keitaro, Black swung his pole and both poles clashed in a blur of motion.
Keitaro blocked off a smash to his right, parried a blow to his head, smacked Black on the arm before jumping and just flinging the pole at Black. The pole hit Black's chest, and Keitaro was careful to grab the end of the pole before it got out of range. With a huge effort, Keitaro spun the pole on its end and ducked as the pole came over his head. He did not need to look to know that the pole had connected with Black, as the huge crash resulting from the impact of Black on the wall resonated around the room. Eventually, after the dust died down, Keitaro walked over to Black and searched for the chip. He patted down Black, but he found no sign of it. He suddenly wondered if his suspicions were correct about their intrusion.
Keitaro heard a rustle over at the front door, and running over to look at the staircase leading to the main street, Keitaro only had one coherent thought going through his head.
"Shit"
xxx